#Spotify Strikes Deal to Turn Its Podcasts Into Movies & TV Shows

Spotify is making its way to Hollywood. The company, known primarily as a music streaming service, has announced that it has partnered with Chernin Entertainment to turn its original podcasts into movies and TV shows. Spotify has signed a first-look deal with the studio, with the two already collaborating to adapt The Clearing.

As announced by Spotify, the company has entered into a multiyear first-look deal with Chernin. The two are already working with Pineapple Street Medi to develop the true-crime podcast The Clearing, though no additional details have been revealed at this time. Spotify Chief Content and Advertising Business Officer Dawn Ostroff had this to say in a statement.
RELATED: Truth Seekers Trailer #2 Takes Simon Pegg & Nick Frost on a Supernatural Trip

“At Spotify, we believe that the extraordinary growth of audio will continue to attract the world’s great creators and make podcasts a premier destination for original IP. As we continue to expand our content ambitions, we are thrilled to collaborate with Peter Chernin, who, along with his exceptional team, are the perfect partners to help us share these stories with audiences across mediums and around the world. Together, we can usher in a new era for podcasts as source material.”

Chernin has been behind successful movies like Ford vs. Ferrari and Hidden Figures, as well as the hit show New Girl. Spotify, meanwhile, has been investing heavily in original podcasts, with the company recently becoming the exclusive home The Joe Rogan Experience. The partnership will help Spotify expand the scope of its footprint within the media landscape. Chernin Entertainment Chairman and CEO Peter Chernin had this to say.

“Audio is by far the fastest-growing medium in the entertainment business, and with over 250 originals and thousands of hours of content, Spotify has one of the largest libraries of unattached IP that exists in the world today, and that library is being added to daily. This treasure trove of content plus the acceleration of new voices and stories provides an enormous opportunity to transform these addictive stories and IP into content for the screen.”

Hollywood has, in recent years, relied heavily on established IP in cooking up movies and TV shows. The thinking is that any familiarity will give that content an edge when competing in an increasingly crowded marketplace. As such, podcasts are a logical place to look for content that could be developed for other mediums. They can be produced cheaply and can work as a testing ground of sorts. That makes Spotify’s rich library of more than 250 original podcasts attractive. Especially since these shows come with a built-in fanbase.

Several major podcasts have already been turned into TV shows in recent years, with HBO adapting taking inspiration from Serial for The Case Against Adnan Syed. Spotify also collaborated with Amazon Prime Video for an adaptation of Homecoming and are working with the company on adapting The Horror of Dolores Roach. Spotify’s The Two Princes is also being developed for HBO Max. This news comes to us directly from Spotify.com.

Topics: Streaming